Process for obtaining metals from their chloride vapors



s. J. VERMAES ET AL Pnoczss von ommme- METALS mora 'mmm (Mmmm vmmas Filed April 15, 192g lll v: 1 i. i* i:

Lnge? STEFANUS JHANNE@ Q1-ERES, `Old DELFT, AND LEONARD LOUIS JACQUES VAN Lmml, GF THE EAGUE, lillIl'.THERLANDEA To all KHUGIBS FDE DET'EM METALS FRQM TYHEIR CHLQEIDE VAJPORS.

Applicaticulc April 15,1922. Serial No. 553,036.

@nimm t 'muy concern:

Be it known that We, S'rnrANne JoHANNss Vannerie, of ude Delft 170, Delft ince of South H 5 Netherlands, and

VAN LIJNDEN,

ie, ich

Kingdom. of the of. the vented ments taining Metals of Which the tollowi ln the treatment o chloridizing volatili problem to extract LEONARD e Hague,

Queen of Provolland, Kingdom of the Louis JAOQUES of Nassau Dillenburgstraat Province of South Holland, Netherlands, both subjects the Netherlands, have incertain. new and useful Improvein or Relatin chlorides produced.

lt has been proposed to collect the chlorides, for instance,

a otrel with and he alkalin at this mixture to smelt it.

e earth g to Processes lfor Obfrom 'lheir Chloride Vapore, ng is a specification. f ores by the so called Aation it is a diiiicult the "metal from the in dust chambers o'r in bag-house or to precipitate-them by the l process and to mix the chlorides alkalies or alkaline earths and carbon In this metal is alkali .or with formation of the chloride of the alkali or the alkaline earth, which :nay b the oxi 0 to the The e used again in the process, de ofl1 the metal is reduced by metal.

whilst carbon present invention makes it possible y both these steps, that ng of the chloride and the separation of the metal, by substituting therefor a direct precipitation of the metal from the chloride vapor.

reduced to metal when.

is cond or an alkaline earth or bon.

as been found ucted through Ia Well as the chloride of the alkali allialin both tl e earth, which is produced.

discharged in molten condition.

The ducted nature ride vapor. present in,P

manner in which said process scale, depends on i a large 'that the chloride is the chloride vapor mixture of an alkali magnesia with car- Such .mixture should be. kept at a temperature high enough to melt the metal' b or the so that ie metal' and the chloride may he is conon the of the gases which carry the chlothese gases) will metal chlorides with forma Oxygen and carbonio4 acid (if be convev i carbon into carbonio oxide, he oxides of the metals formed by mon of the alkali or the alkaline rted o by which earth tion of Iof the ore. In' other 'atilization described the metals. In some cases there may be substituted for the carbon an ,excess of a gaseous or .liquid reducing` agent, which must then be conducted with the chloride vapor over the alkali or the alkaline earth at the desired temperature.

lVhen the chloridizingir Volatilization is carried out so as to yield a'hot ges current containing free oxygen and carrying concentrated metal chlori as described in our c No. 553,057, led of may consistsimply current, which carries the concentrated chloride vapor without cooling it, into thebottom part of the combustion chamber of a gas producer of a type which is adapted for the discharge of molten slag. The producer should be charged with' carbonized or uncarbonized fuel and, for instance, with burnt or unburnt limestone or dolomite. A. Very high temperature will be attained. in the producer because the air is introduced @pending application, even date, the process de vapor, for instance in conductingthe gas til.

lli

at high temperature` and thereduced metal suce to produce all heat necessary 1n the Whole treatment cases the be' insuflicient andi then heat must be sup plied by someother source of heat. or by increasing the outputof gas of the producer y supplying an extra quantity of air.

In combination with the chloridizing volin our above-identified co-pendin,g application,

metal pres, which 'are dicult to handle,

the metallurgy of `copper and lead ores and also of precious the roasting s ore, the quantity au.

quantity will.

because of a Ismall content of copper and j lead`, -will be much .improved by this in- Venti'on. p

The process may be considered as a. simple distillation of the metals by 1.which often comparativel small contents of 'copper and lead can be o tained directl yas metals or as alloys the constituents of W ich may be separated afterwards, if necessary, in known manner and from which precious metals may be recovered.

The accompanying diagrammatic drawing shows an apparatus with which the pres-` ent process can be carried out 1n conJunction with the chloridizing process described in our above-identified application; but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the use of the particular apparatus shown, nor to its application in comune-1 tion with the aforesaid chloridizing process,y

but covers all modifications within the scope ofthe appended claims.

In the drawing, Figure l is a side eleva.- tion, partly in section, of the apparatus, and

Fi 2 is a cross-section through the chlof a riizing furnace on the line H-II, of Flg. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, 1 indicates a so-called Gates crusher., 2 a roller' mill, 3 a hopper or bin toreceive the crushed ore, 4 a rotating preheating furnace into which the hopper discharges, and

5 a gas burneri'or heating the furnace 4. The air supply for the burner 5 is indicated at 51, and 52 indicates the gas-supply pipproducer 10 and to a pipe 82 for the introduction of calcium chloride. The rotary chloridizing kiln 9 is heated b a gas burner 91 fed by gas delivered lby. t e,fan 12, the supply piping for the gas being indicated at 92.

The rproducer 10 is provided with a hopper 101 having a valve 102. The hopper A101 is fed with coke from a bin or hopper 13, and with lime 'from a bin or hopper- 14.- The lower part KVof the producer is provided with a water-jacket 103 and a taphole 104 for molten metal and molten chloride. 15 is a hearth in which molten metal and chloride arecollected and separated,'the chloride flowing to a smaller tank 16 and the metal being discharged through the taphole 151.

`he upper part of the producer is connected by a gas conduit 17 tc the scrubber 11, filled with limestone and provided with a water spray 111 and a gas-discharge tube 112 leading to the fan12. 93 are rings encirclingthe rotaryA kiln 9 and provided with grooves (not shown in Fig. -1) to receive the supporting rollers 94A (Fig. 2). Similar rings 42 are fitted on the kiln 4, and 41` and 95 are ring gears by which the kilns 4 and 9 are rotated. i

Fresh ore is fed into the crnsher 1 and is further comminuted in the mill 2,- for cxample to 5 mesh. The crushed ore is then f cd into the bin 3 and from there into the preheating kiln 4. Here the ore a is heated by direct Contact with a flame b to a teinperature which is preferably higher than the chloridizing temperature, for instance, 900-1000 C. 4It is discharged in this hot condition through the valve connection 7 into the chloridizing kiln 9 in which it is mixed with calcium chloride or other chloride, preferably in molten condition, which is introduced through the conduit 82. The mixture is heated by the oxidizing flame c,

. to a temperature, for instance, of G-900 C., and gives up its metal in the form of chloride whichris volatilized and leaves the furnace tluough the conduit 81.

The hot tailings d preheat the air entering the open lower end of the kiln 9. The kiln 4 is of the ordinary rotary type as used for example, in the manufacture of Pertland cement,fbut has a fixed end-cover G through Awhich projects the burner 5 for preheating the ore in the furnace. The con nection 7 and valve 71 are made of hi lily refractory material, as also are the conduits 81 and 82.

Thejiiln or furnace 9 is also of the ordi nary rotary type, but its lower portion has no inner covermg of refractory bricks, as the ore becomes suciently cool in this part of the furnace. The temperature in this furnace between the upper end and the flame ismaintained by the llame at about S00- 900o C., the part between the'ilaxne and the lower end becoming gradually cooler and acting as a heat-exchanger with the ineoming aid. The flame b is much larger and bears much more heat than the flame c, the

latter serving chiey to compensate un# avoidable heat-losses caused by radiation and the like.v l

The producer 10 is fed through the Vho per 101 with a mixture of lime .and co e which becomes incandescent when descend ing into the producer. The lower part is extremely hot and is therefore cooled bythe waterjacket 1 03.

In the presence of the excess of incandescent coke, the oxygen of the gases introduced by the conduit 81; is converted into CO. The metallic chloride is 'reduced "by coke or CO, in the presence of lime, to metal with formation of calcium chloride. Both the metal andthe calcium chloride melt in the hot zone of the producer and are discharged. through the taphole 104 into the collecting.;` and separating hearth 15. The metal is discharged through the taphole 151 and the calcium chloride flows over to the small tank 16. From this tank it is fed into the kiln 9 to serve as a chloridizing agent.

The CO formed in the hot zone of the producer flows through the conduit 17 into the scrubber 11 in which it is cooled by the 4wel leaving the producer have a very high caloric value and therefore are used lfor heat- ,ing both the rotary kilns 4 and 9. The

quantity rif-gas may be controlled by admitting more or less air into the lower part of ,the producer, and air may also be introduced into the kiln 9 or admitted by openings (not shown) in the lower part of the producer 10, preferably above the zone in which the metal chlorides are reduced to metals.

What we claim is:

l. Theimethod of extracting metals from their Volatile chlorine compounds, which comprises bring a gas currentcontaining vapors of the chlorine c'ompounds into contact with a solid alkaline substance and a reducing agent at a high temperature.

2. The method of extracting metals from their volatile chlorine compounds, which l comprises bringing a gas current containing m tra vapors of the chlorine compounds into contact with an' incandescent mixture of a solid alkaline substance and a solid carbonaceous fuel.

3. The method ofA extracting metals from their volatile chlorine compounds7 which comprises conducting a gas current containing metal chloride vapors through a mixture of a solid carbonaceous fuel and linie at a temperature at which the metal chloride is reduced and the liberated metal is in Inolten condition.

4. .The method of extracting metals from their volatile-chlorine compounds, which' comprises conducting a slow gas current containing metal chloride vapors and airthrough a gas producer containing a mixture of a solid carbonaceous fuel and lime whereby metal and calcium chloride are formed in a molten state and are tapped from ,the producer while the combustible gases produced by the reactions and by the air pass from the producer to be used for other purposes.

In testimony whereof we ,aliix our signa,- tures.

STEFANULS JOHANNES VERMAES. LEONARD LOUIS JACQUES van LUNDEN. 

